Episode 8 (S2) of the Smith Family Manga is now available – Insights from a Writers’ Festival

Today (November 15, 2024), MMTed releases Episode 8 in the Second Season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit.

The Smith Family are a middle-class family living in a city somewhere in the world. The second-generation parents are university educated and have professional occupations. Their two kids attend the local public school.

In Episode 8, the long-term unemployment arising from the deep recession that followed the the government’s austerity push, has really impacted on Ryan, who has turned to alcohol and gambling as a way of dealing with his sense of hopelessness.

The Smith Family household fractures after Ryan goes too far and gambles away the money that Elizabeth has been putting away to fund Kevin’s school trip to the Bank of Japan later in the year.

Scorned, Ryan moves in with his brother Aaron and deteriorates further.

We then see Elizabeth, Mariko, Kevin and Brian attending the local writers’ festival at the civic centre and the session they are most interested in is a Q&A session for the book – Modern Monetary Theory: Bill and Warren’s Excellent Adventure – where one of the authors is happy to answer questions from the audience.

Brian asks: Why do governments tax if they are not financially constrained?

The answer lies at the heart of attaining an understanding of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

The episode ends with Ryan and Aaron drinking and watching Professor Noitawl explain why the austerity hasn’t gone far enough.

If you have any feedback we will appreciate it, other than ‘this sucks’.

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The manga is available in both English and Japanese.

Next episode – Episode 9 – will be available on December 13, 2024.

That is enough for today!

(c) Copyright 2024 William Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.